Gangtok/Guwahati, Feb. 2: Boarders at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology have been asked not to venture out of the campus following an altercation with day scholars on Sunday.

A police picket has been posted on the campus.

According to SMIT sources, a first year student from Assam had an altercation with his hostel mate, a local, after the two bumped into each other outside the campus at Majitar, 35km from here, on Sunday. The local student returned to the hostel and threw out the belongings of the Assamese student from there. A verbal battle ensued between non-Sikkimese boarders and the locals. “The boarders were told not to venture out of the campus,” the sources said.

East district police chief M.S. Tuli said a force from Rangpo police station was posted on the campus and the situation was “peaceful.”

Indu Singh, the SMIT spokesperson, said institute director N.V.S Reddy has asked the chief security officer to probe the incident. “The inquiry has begun today,” she said.

Assam home secretary S.C. Das said in Guwahati that he had contacted his counterpart in Sikkim and the SMIT authorities and was assured that there was nothing to worry. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said: “I have been given to understand that there was a minor scuffle but everything has been sorted out.”